Silver
by Airin9
Summary: A new evil arises, one that threatens the foundations of magic itself. But Merlin, this time, is not alone in his fight. The big lizard gives a new prophecy. The time of legends is nearing.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N : Hi everyone! This is my first story ever ever, and I hope you'll like it ! don't forget to review so I know :)**

**A new evil arises, one that threatens the foundations of magic itself. But Merlin, this time, is not alone in his fight. The big lizard gives a new prophecy. The time of legends is nearing.**

**The plot takes place between the first and the second season of Merlin BBC and includes 1 OC called Eylen. Merlin just turned 18, Arthur and Gwen are nearly 20, Morgana is 22 and Eylen is 17.**

**At the end of this chapter, please comment and suggest names for Eylen's druidic name – eh eh eh – ! (and point out all grammar errors, I am not beta-ed)**

**Thank you for reading !**

**Oh, and the image for the story is mine (I drew it :) )**

**Disclaimer : I don't own Merlin (if I did there would be ten more seasons) :P**

**Later update of the A/N : Dear new readers, I've started a crossover between Merlin and Sherlock. It's called Conspiracies and takes place in medieval Camelot. Check it out :)**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Warm sunlight was filtering through the heavy curtains and landing exactly on her face, that she lazily tried to hide with her pillow without much success. She sighed and stretched, stiff from the night in the cold and empty castle, and blinked her rich green eyes open.

Eylen had always lived in Daobeth; anyway, for longer than she could remember; and she had a very good memory. She was always utterly alone, except for her mom, who came to see her twice a week, bringing biscuits and dusty books. Apart from these weekly visits, the young girl had all the city for herself, but it was no good without people. She knew all the books of the castle's library by heart, and spoke fluently every foreign language she could came upon. Even that weird language of the Old Religion (what in the earth could be this religion? Anyway, speaking its language made her feel weirdly more alive). But where was the good of knowing languages if you cannot practice them with someone?

She drew the curtains open by pulling an arm out of the heavy blanket. By the window, Eylen could see the snowy towers of her castle, after having blinked a lot to get her eyes used to the blinding sunlight. Daobeth had once been a flamboyant kingdom, but was now a little piece of land, reduced by barbarian invasions ages before. The castle was the only standing building left in the entire kingdom, and washidden to the view by the forest (though she could not fathom how no one had ever come close to the castle except for her mom).

She reluctantly tried to get a leg out of her warm blankets, and accidently knocked over her hairbrush. The fall's noise reverberated in the desert corridors, making her shiver.

An eerie silence reigned along the citadel, one that Eylen had grown used to for a long time now (but seemed to re-discover every other morning). She spent her time in the forest, that she called Holt (well, "holt" meant "forest" in the language of the Old Religion, but she had chosen the name when she was four, so she cut herself some slack. This forest surrounded the castle and was the liveliest place ever; the girl knew every animal, every tree, every flower; and she loved racing the deers -even though she always lost!- and helping the birds make their nets…even though she was the only person there, she did not feel all alone. Except in winter. It was soooo boring, and even if the girl enjoyed playing in the snow, she regretted the animals did not share her eagerness for the cold weather, and she had grown bored really being alone for months.

Eylen wished so much she could leave Daobeth. She had never been elsewhere because of some weird curse - if magic even existed!- she was under, that would block her from stepping outside the frontiers. Each time the young girl had tried to get near the border, she had felt very dizzy and light-headed, and could not put one foot in front of the other without collapsing. Her mom always came to bring her back to the castle. She could not fathom how she knew exactly when she was trying to leave and where she was, and she had never dared to ask.

This was visit day. She forced herself to get up, and remembered this was the first time she was going to see her mom since she had turned seventeen, two days before - on the summer equinoxe's day.

Eylen sat up and tried to order her unruly chestnut hair with her fingers, as the hairbrush was lying way too far after its fall. After few minutes more of gathering her will, she finally got up, frowning slightly, though not because of the coldness of the air. Her mom should have arrived by now, she was always there at dawn.

* * *

Merlin was, as usual, late for the succulent broth Gaius had made for supper. It was getting cold…all this hard cooking work for nothing! His ward was going -again - to complain about the taste of his meal (hey! It tasted good, when it was hot anyway). Merlin was really going to be the death of him. The door creaked open and a black mop of hair emerged from the side, along with a sheepish grin and a weird smell - horse _dung_?-. At last!

When Merlin finally got rid of the smell (it was really horse dung…Gaius's nose is so accurate, from years of medicine and pure skill), he hobbled out of his room and crashed down the stairs. He landed on the bench at the table, just in front of his bowl of _cold_ broth. Gaius sighed and did not even look up from the book he was reading. The boy's balance was not improving, and he was going to complain about his magnificent broth's taste.

* * *

Eylen was bending to retrieve her shoes under her bed when something most bizarre happened. She caught sight of the weird silver mark she had always had on her shoulder, that was _glowing_.

_Wow…I need to go to sleep earlier tonight._

The young girl blinked twice to chase all the remaining sleepiness of her eyes, but her mark kept glowing. And getting warmer, and warmer. And itchier too. That was rather annoying, but she decided not to scratch it, because it could get even more itchy.

Eylen shivered. Her feet were freezing, so she ignored the bothering itchiness, bent to catch her shoes and put them on. Right when she got up again, she felt really _really _light-headed, worst than when she tried to get out of Daobeth, and her mark decided to burn.

She screamed- and put her hand on the mark, trying to get the burning to stop. As the girl finally touched it, she felt some rush of power - weirdly enough -, and got the impression to be more alive than ever - quite cool -, and some silver sparks shot out of her hands and formed weird spiralling shapes in the air in front of her. Go figure, it looked just like the strange silver mark of her arm. That's when the world started to spin way too quickly - not cool - and some wind rushed to tangle her hair - hey, that's unfair, she tried to brush it. And everything went black - well, not really, more like fuzzy, but it was horrible anyway.

* * *

Merlin was having one of Gaius's horrid broth in his mentor's chambers, having ridden himself of a horrid smell, his body sore after scrubbing the royal prat's chamber's ground AND the stables. He really wished he could go to sleep and never ever get up again in the entire week. And it was only Monday. He was letting out a yawn and trying to force his eyes to stay open when he felt his magic tingle. The warlock looked at his left, towards the door of the physician's chamber. Gaius was reading and apparently oblivious to magic.

_Great, someone (or something) is going to make an attempt on the Prince of the clotpoles' life. Again. Life is sooo unfair...can't the bad guys wait until next week?_

He started to yawn again when a chestnut-haired girl appeared right from nowhere, visibly trying to stay standing, a bewildered look on her face and her eyes glowing bright silver.

_Wait…silver?_

* * *

"Wow, that was most weird" she thought loud. Eylen regained her balance, feeling _really _dizzy, and saw two persons staring at her, mouth agape.

"Errrm… hi!" That was certainly not the way she had imagined she would introduce herself to the first real-live people she met.

If her nausea was not increasing so drastically, trying to make her legs buckle under herself -and succeeding-, the girl would have burst out laughing at the face the people in front of her were putting. Seriously, both had the same eyebrow raised dramatically, and the mouth hanging open in a superb O-shape.

The youngest one, by far, a raven-haired boy that looked around 18 - almost her age! -, stood up and reached for her as she collapsed. A golden-silver dome appeared around them. Some sort of power wave shook the world's core, whispers of words sounding like "forþgesceaft" echoing through her mind.

Everything went black.

* * *

**A/N : Don't forget to review and share ! It takes you less than a minute and makes my day!**

**Airin9**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N : Here is Chapter 2 :)**

**pheonix234 : Thank you ! For Eylen, the language of the old religion is just another language she learnt to busy herself. Even if she feels weird speaking it, she cannot suspect magic because no one has ever told anything about it to her. She does know she is cursed, but believes it to be some superstition of her mom. She thinks she cannot leave Daobeth because of some natural reaction to the land, or something :). She cannot really explain it. When she'll soon understand the curse really had a magical source.**

**ImaLady : Thank you x)**

**To all : don't forget to comment and point out any errors :)**

**Thank you all for reading !**

**Check out Conspiracies, my Merlin/Sherlock crossover !**

* * *

Merlin woke with a start, and banged his head on something (ouch). That was seemingly breathing. Someone then. He moaned.

"Sorry Gaius. Didn't see you". Though he did not open his eyes, he could picture all too well how Gaius was arching his eyebrows.

"You haven't opened your eyes, my boy; of course you couldn't have seen me. You have been out for the whole night, and you are going to be late for work - _again_. I told Arthur you had caught a cold yesterday, but that you would be okay by now. Get up, quick. Oh, and I was hoping you could tell me what happened yesterday night."

Merlin blinked and repressed a yawn, wondering what his mentor could be referring to. Everything came back to him at once, and he repressed a sigh. Oh, right, the girl appearing, him trying to catch her before she fell -and failing -, a weird light appearing around them, both passing out. Obviously that sort of stuff only happened to him. Typical.

"I don't know more than you. Some weird light, me feeling weird, hearing some weird words such as "forthgesceaft" or something." He stopped. "That's two "weird" in one sentence. I need to expand my vocabulary or I'll end up like Arthur."

Gaius looked ready to tell him not to mock his future king, even if the prat deserved so, so Merlin got up and sprinted to work - he hadn't had time to change last night, having passed out and all, so didn't need to get dressed. Hey, that was good, he would sleep dressed up now -. He nearly stumbled on Gaius's bed, that was currently occupied by the girl, who was still out cold.

* * *

When Merlin reached the clotpole's chambers, after having fetched his royal breakfast - that could easily have fed the entire lower town for weeks-, Arthur was still soundly asleep.

He pulled the curtains open, and grinned.

"Rise and Shine!"

No answer.

Merlin got closer from the Prince's bed.

"Let's have you, lazy daisy". He ducked and avoided the pillow he knew was coming.

"MERlin"

Arthur got up rather quickly (Arthur in good mood = Merlin having a nice day too. Hopefully. It was always too good to be true). The Prince let himself fall in a very un-princely way on his chair, in front of his breakfast. He announced with a smirk he was going on a hunt - _oh no, not again!_

Just as Merlin was beginning to sigh, he added that the boy was not going with him. Merlin began to worry. What had the prat planned?.

According to Arthur, some nobles were arriving for a week-long stay, and would need servants. And the clotpole had gladly offered them Merlin for the stay. Obviously, Merlin would work like a slave for the whole week while Arthur was enjoying himself.

Right, that was it. Arthur definitely looked pleased with himself, having found something even worse than hunting for Merlin._ Thank you so much, cabbage-head._

Merlin sighed and glared at Arthur, trying to dig a hole in the clotpole's back while ordering the clothes the Prince had thrown around the room on purpose, obviously. His burning glare failed -new sigh from the warlock-, and Merlin went to fetch the Prince's weapons in the armoury.

A few minutes later, Arthur left with his finest knights, and Merlin watched him leave, feeling already tired by the wonderful week he was going to spend.

* * *

Eylen woke up with a pounding headache. Great. She frowned, her eyes still closed because of the blinding sunlight that was seemingly landing on her face -again?!-. The light had a mid-afternoon quality, and she wondered why she had not woken up earlier.

Oh, and she could hear people talking. Wait. _People?_

Everything came back at once. She saw herself looking for shoes, her mark burning, that weird rush of power, the world spinning…cerulean blue eyes staring right at her soul. Oh, and passing out. Weird. She hoped someone would have an explanation, because she could not find any. Well, except magic. She shook her head, increasing her headache. _No, I need sensible explanations._

She could hear footsteps: someone was coming towards her - _great conclusion, Eylen. What impressive deduction skills you have_. She opened her eyes and sat up, observing the old man – the one she had appeared in front of – as he was coming towards her looking every bit suspicious.

"Hello. I am the Court Physician. You have been out cold for more than a day. What are you doing here?" – Direct. Right.

"I really have no idea. This – she showed him her mark, and he looked slightly less suspicious, weirdly enough – started to glow, as bizarre as it can sound, and I happened to land here."

Now, the old man looked genuinely surprised.

"You don't know where you are, do you?"

"Nope."

"And you don't know about the risk you're taking just by breathing the same air as the king?"

"Nope. Wait. What do you mean? Which King? Where am I?" She was feeling really, really confused, and annoyed. She was getting more questions than answers.

"You are in Camelot. Druids are outlawed here, but I won't hand you over if you are no threat for the kingdom."

"Hang on. _Druids_?"

His eyebrows shot up – again?

He opened his mouth to answer, but did not get the opportunity as the door was banged open. The raven-haired boy from the day before entered, black rings under his eyes – he really looked like he was going to fall asleep on the spot-, and started speaking. He had not spotted her yet.

"Gaius! I cannot believe Arthur. Nobles are coming for a stay, and he is avoiding them by going on a hunt. And he leaves me behind to be the visitors' dummy for the whole week!"

Gaius – according to her hyper-developed investigating skills, Eylen suspected that was the old man – looked utterly unfazed by the boy's declaration, and gestured towards the girl, intending for the boy to see her. The boy's eyebrows shot up too.

"Oh, right. Hello!"

Gaius walked towards the boy, and both started whispering, arguing whether they needed to tell her or not.

_Tell me what_? – she thought.

Both jumped in surprise and turned towards her, an eerie expression on their faces.

"What did you say?" asked Gaius.

* * *

Merlin's life was becoming more and more surprising by the minute. A girl appears right in his chambers, both pass out, he wakes up to witness the prat being more prattish than ever if that is even possible, comes back to his room while his brain is reeling like mad to figure out who could have made the girl appear in their chambers - because it was powerful magic indeed, and she did not look like it. But after all, he did not either - or so he was told-, he tells Gaius about his rotten luck, and the girl pouts and starts mind-speaking. Right.

"She did not speak, Gaius."

"Well, of course she did. I heard her"

"No, she did not open her mouth. More like the druids' mind speech. Which means she was not taken here by someone. She transported herself, even unknowingly." Merlin deducted.

Gaius definitely looked like he was going to say _"your observation skills astound me, young warlock"_, but was cut by the girl.

"What do you mean?"

* * *

Both turned and looked at Eylen. Her mind was reeling. What on earth did they mean by _transporting herself_? Maybe she had magic. She thought about the language of the Old Religion. After all, it was not the first time unexplainable things happened to her. Feeling more alive by uttering words? Her silvery mark on the shoulder? Definitely not normal. Fantastic. I happen to appear in the one kingdom I should not to be.

_You have magic. _– Mind-speech? The raven boy had not opened his mouth, but she had heard his voice, confirming her suspicions about magic existing. Wait. The boy had mind-spoken too.

_You have magic too._

_MERLIN! _– well, that was a new voice. Right. How many people wielded _magic_ in Camelot?

The boy – Merlin, she assumed – did not even look surprised. He turned towards Gaius.

"The Great dragon knows". _What_?

* * *

**A/N : Don't forget to review and suggest a druidic name for Eylen !**

**Airin9**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**

***Frozen - Anna's do you wanna build a snowman's theme***

**Why don't you review this story?**

**Come on, let's go and write,**

**I never see you anymore,**

**Come out, comment,**

**It's like you've gone away!**

**I used to get some comments,**

**And now I don't**

**I wish you would tell me why**

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**And a minute is all it takes.**

**- No reviews, Airin**

**- *puppy eyeees***

**Why don't you review my story,**

**Or just leave me some words?**

**Constructive criticism is overdue**

**I've started writing songs**

**To ask for some comments!**

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**It gets a little lonely,**

**Getting no feedback,**

**Just watching the hours tick by**

**(tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock)**

**Please, I know you're in there,**

**I am just asking you some reviews,**

**This is my first fanfic,**

**and I'm trying to, I update quickly,**

**Just write some nooote!**

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**It's just you and me**

**Are you considering toooo?**

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******end of subliminal message******

* * *

Merlin burst out of Gaius's room, Eylen on his heels wondering why on earth she was even following the stranger. She caught him by the sleeve, rather irritated.

"Alright! Would someone mind telling me what is going on? First I appear in your room, I pass out to wake up twenty-four hours later – with a massive headache, thank you very much-, and when I awake you tell me that magic exists, that the _Great Dragon_ knows –knows what, go figure-, and that I am a – mmph". At that point, Merlin stopped dead and put both his hands on her mouth, stopping her from saying the dangerous word.

"Magic is outlawed here. If someone heard you speak, you'd be dead by the second". He whispered. Right. Gaius already told me.

"But you're a sorcerer too! Why do you even live here?"

They arrived to a corner, behind which guards were standing on both sides of a thick wooden door. What was the raven-haired boy doing? Denouncing her? She really did not understand why he would. The boy had such an aura around him. It remembered her of her own, and made her feel safe, even at home. She could not figure why - and it confused her even more. Nevertheless, she trusted him.

Merlin stopped abruptly, and she nearly knocked him over the corner. Woops.

"I think you'll find out soon enough." He muttered. Okay. That really helped Eylen to feel better.

"What-"

_Swefe nu!_ Merlin's eyes glowed gold, and the guards collapsed, fast asleep. _Wow_. She needed to try someday.

Merlin got closer to the door, and opened it with a tiny flick of his wrist and a flash from his eyes -awesome-. Both started walking down the narrow stairs of the cavern –_ wait. A cavern beneath a castle? Weird_. Unlit torches were hanging on the walls, and the whole place was _really_ dark, so dark that she could not see her feet. Merlin was already at the bottom of the stairs -by the sounds of it, as she did not see him -. Eylen shuddered, and wished she could see the stairs better, having nearly slipped twice already.

All the torches lit themselves at once, with a big "woooof". _Woah_!

When she finally reached the bottom of the stairs, Merlin was seemingly waiting for something. Or _someone_. Did the _Great_ Dragon live in that shilling dark hole?

As if to answer her question - she was _seriously_ beginning to worry, did everyone just read her thoughts?-, she heard creepy clanging sounds, coming from above.

The Great Dragon landed in front of them.

Was it _bowing_?

* * *

"I see you have finally met, young warlock and witch. The prophesized times are coming. Silver is free to walk the earth again, at last."

"I was wondering when your shared destiny would truly begin. It is going to be very interesting…Anyway! _The time is nearing, as the other side knows and is gathering forces. Gold and silver must fight against all that is dark for the light they seek to protect is in great peril. Beware."_

That being said, Merlin's favourite lizard took off and let them alone with their thoughts. Typical.

The girl at his side - he really needed to ask her name, it was becoming awkward - was seemingly prophesized to work for Albion as well. They were to stand side by side, fighting against evil – not new – because good was – again – threatened. It was really becoming routine now. He frowned. _Since when do I found saving Albion from evil's clutches _routine_?_

He yawned._ I just want to sleep!_

Just as Merlin rubbed his eyes, the warning bells rang above their heads.

He shook himself, took the girl's hand, and climbed up the stairs, blowing out the torches as they ran.

* * *

Eylen and Merlin were trying to walk _incognito_ back to Gaius's chambers. So far, so good. They had not crossed anyone on their way…until now.

"Oi, you two! Stop!"

They nearly jumped in fright, and hesitantly turned towards the guard's voice. He was coming from some narrow corridor, and as no-one else was in sight…

_Swefe nu! _Eylen thought. She felt her eyes burn pure silver.

The guard collapsed, and started snoring. _She loved that spell._

As the witch began to smile, she heard some muffled cry. _Weird. No one else was in sight_. But there was no time, and she decided not to dwell on it.

Merlin stared at the strange girl – she was a quick learner indeed. Two hours ago, she had not known magic even existed despite being a _witch_, that is to say having magic since _birth_…, and now she did speech-less spells.

Normally, he would have been suspicious. After all, he did not even know her _name_, and she had magic, and she knew he had magic too. Three good reasons to be wary. However, the young warlock felt like he already knew the girl. He could feel his magic probing hers and accepting it, as it was seemingly prophesized. It was comforting to know he was not alone anymore in his task. That was why he had revealed her he was a warlock as well.

Anyway, she had just put a guard to sleep, without uttering a word, and they were on the run.

_No time to think, you idiot._ – this thought suspiciously sounded just like Arthur's voice.

He conjured a chair and sat the guard on it so it would look like he had just fallen asleep on duty. He lifted the man using magic, -this guard looked way too fat and two warlocks started again their quick-walking to Gaius's chambers -not running, mind you, it might look incriminating-.

* * *

Luck was not on their side -when was it ever on Merlin's side, anyway?-, and three more guards stopped them. There were servants at the other side of the corridor, arranging some flowers.

_Witnesses. –_Merlin thought - maybe a bit louder than intended, as Eylen added by mind-speech_. -They cannot kill us then, just take us to our trial, and _then_ kill us. Well, that's comforting._

"You" – the guard commenced, turning towards Merlin, who paled even more – "are required at the stables, to clean them before the arrival of the hosts."

"And you" – he continued, looking at Eylen– "…are, well, _new_. Welcome in Camelot, silver. You are hereby employed by the Crown of Camelot as maid. This week, you will work for the arriving nobles. You will second him –he was pointing at Merlin-, from now on." The three guards left the corridor without another word.

Merlin let out his breath. That was close.

"Right. I was just given a job by some random guard. Is that usual?" The witch wondered. She was nevertheless relieved to have found work, and to be allowed to stay in Camelot. It already felt like home –as weird as this could sound coming from a magic user.

"Well, considering I had the _honour_ of becoming the prince's manservant by saving the prat's life…. But no, I bet that was destiny intervening. Fate needs you to stay here. Now, what do you say about mucking out stables, -?"

She grinned.

"Eylen".

* * *

It was night already when the two exhausted - _and dirty. And stinking_ - warlocks, along with Gwen, came back to the physician's chamber. Gwen was palish, and Merlin wanted Gaius to give her a tonic. The physician was off, probably to bring Morgana her sleeping draught. Merlin proposed Gwen to stay for supper, so she could have a meal while waiting for the physician to arrive.

She just nodded, lost in her thoughts –that was not normal, Merlin decided. No one _sane_ would agree to eat Gaius's broth, except if under pressure -AKA Gaius's eyebrows-. Gross.

Eylen volunteered to serve her friends. According to Merlin, Gaius had already cooked some food. She could not find it though.

"Merlin, where is Gaius's broth? Merlin?"

The witch turned around. Merlin was soundly asleep, his head resting on a book. She _almost_ felt sorry for waking him up. But he needed to eat. And she was really hungry – _try not eating for more than one day, and then muck out royal stables, and you'll see._

"Merlin! Let's have you, lazy daisy!"

Merlin jumped fully awake, thinking "_hey! That what _I_ say to wake Arthur!"_

He had a book title printed on the cheek, and along with his outraged expression, the overall impression was comical.

She laughed. "Sorry for waking you up. And that's what _my_ saying too. Where is Gaius's broth?"

The warlock stood up and gave her the broth that had been right in front of her from the start…_what observation talents, Eylen!._ The food was cold.

"Oh. The broth is not really hot. Well, to be honest, it is cold. And I am sure it tastes a lot better hot – well, I _hope_ so, because it smells rather bad right now. Don't you tell Gaius, Merlin- Anyway, except you want to eat it cold, you'll have to wait, as the fire has gone out."

Gwen, looked up from the table, and bore her gentle brown eyes in Eylen's sparkling ones, looking deadly serious.

"Eylen, can't you use magic to heat it?

* * *

**Please, I know you've read this,**

**Sorry for the little cliffy,**

**It was just too tempting,**

**Don't worry, I'll update quickly,**

**If you just leave me a nooote!**

**We only have each other,**

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**- *puppy eyes* -**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N : I just published 2 chapters in 2 days :)**

**Just don't forget to review at the end of this chapter! Even just one word! **puppy eyes****

**And happy Independance Day to all the American readers :)**

* * *

Merlin, who had fallen on the floor in shock, could utter only one word.

"How?"

Gwen looked at him, her face tear-stricken. Merlin nearly didn't recognize the cheery maid.

"I was bringing laundry to the lady Morgana when I heard a guard calling you two. Just as I opened the door of the corridor you were in, I saw a girl I did not know make the guard collapse by a flash of her eyes. I thought you were in danger, Merlin, and I was about to come in, but then I saw you levitate the guard."

"You left so quickly I did not have the time to enter and tell you I knew about your magic. But Merlin, why didn't you tell me you studied magic? You are my friend. I thought – I thought you knew you could trust me." She let out a shuddering breath, and continued.

"I don't mind about the magic, Merlin. The King says magic corrupts. But I know you, and you are everything but evil. I am just sorry you had to keep your magic from us".

Merlin was dumbstruck. Gwen had just told him she was still his friend, even if she knew he had lied to her. He stood up, still shaking, and Gwen hugged him. _Two persons more that knew his secret and accepted his magic, in a single day. Best day ever._

"One question though. Why did you two choose to study magic?"

Eylen answered for Merlin. "We didn't. We were born with it. Merlin never chose to study magic, he has always had it." She looked over at Merlin. "And so had I, even if I only realized it this afternoon."

"Is that even possible?"

"I think there are two sorts of magic users. Sorcerers are those that can learn how to use magic, by borrowing it from nature. I think nearly everyone can do that with a bit of training, at different levels. Warlocks, that is Merlin and I, do not borrow their power. They are magic, have it inside themselves. You cannot choose whether to use magic or not in that case."

_I never thought about it, but that makes sense_. – Merlin thought for himself.

_-Well, I pondered on it all afternoon._

_-Hey, you just read what I was thinking._

_-Not my fault, you really think loud. _She smiled.

_-I think normally, you just happen to be able to hear my thoughts. _Merlin pouted.

_Really? _She arched an eyebrow (oh, no, Merlin and Gaius were rubbing off her)

_Yes. I think it is part of the shared destiny stuff._

_Wow. The lizard was really serious then._

Merlin nodded.

_I did not appear in Camelot by chance, did I? Oh, and why couldn't I ever use magic before yesterday if I am a witch? Oh, ermm, woops._

Gwen was looking at them weirdly.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that, Gwen." Eylen said sheepishly.

Merlin burst out laughing._ Best day ever indeed._

The happy warlock spent the rest of the supper telling his friends about his previous year in Camelot, and they were still laughing when a surprised Gaius entered his room (raising both his eyebrows).

* * *

The visiting nobles were horrid. Pretentious. Awful. Horrific. Errm…pure evil. They were the most despicable persons. Ever.

They had overworked Merlin and Eylen to death. _Twice_. In a single morning.

The two warlocks were dead on their feet, trying not to fall asleep, while the prats-_nobles, sorry_ were having the best-smelling lunch ever.

_Life is so unfair. - _Eylen thought, her stomach approving noisily.

To their utmost surprise, the nobles gave them the rest of the afternoon off. They just had to attend to them after the banquet.

While walking back to Gaius's, the warlocks mind-chatted (making everyone stare at them, due to the eerie expression they had while speaking telepathically). Anyway, they came to a shared conclusion.

_The nobles are up to something._

* * *

The sun had just set when Merlin left. The whole castle seemed eerily calm and desert, as most of the servant and nobles were attending the welcoming feast. The nobles he was meant to serve for the week, however, had decided they would not be staying at the banquet. They had pretexted a headache -as if Merlin and Eylen believed them-.

Merlin could almost feel the air's thrill as he walked towards the nobles' suite. He shuddered.

They had decided the warlock would be going in first (well, Merlin had decided, ignoring Eylen's protests). If it really was a trap, he had far more experience with belligerent nobles. He just hoped Eylen and him were just being paranoid as he knocked on the door; better not anger the nobles by bursting in the room, they were not Arthur.

_"__Come in!"_

They were in there. Right. He inspired, opened the door, readied his magic, and…

_Bang_!

Did not see the fist coming towards his face. Ouch.

As he was falling into oblivion, banging his head on the door's hinges, he just hoped Eylen would hurry.

He knew no more.

* * *

Eylen was indeed walking towards the noble's chambers, listening to the feast in the distance (first time ever hearing that much people), when she felt Merlin's distress.

Something was wrong. She had told him, he should not have gone alone.

She ran along the corridors, trying not to stumble on the long dress she was wearing (and cursing loudly on her way).

She banged the door open, not minding how it would look like, and caught her breath.

There was no one in the chambers.

_Merlin?_

No answer.

_Come on, Merlin! Wakey wakey!_

She tried to communicate him a big noise, like thousands of trumpets playing in his ears. That might work.

_Mphh… _

_Bright and early, Merlin. Told you it was a trap. Where are you?_

_Don't know, there is a cloth sack on my head. It stinks, by the way. Yuck. Oh, but I think we are in the forest. I am tied to a tree. Wait on, they're talking._

Eylen was almost at the edges of the forest, only stopped in her run by the infuriating guards of the gates (she _perhaps_ had _accidentally_ knocked them out in the end), when Merlin spoke again.

_They are not after Arthur, nor Uther. Well, not directly anyway. That is new. I did not get much however, just that they are going to join up with some other group, and that they plan to take me to them._

She was deep in the forest now, following Merlin's mental trail.

_They spent the whole chat gloating on about how Uther had believed them to be nobles. I do not think they will say more, sounds like they are sleeping now. I am getting out. Ouch-_

The wrongness that radiated from her mental link to Merlin after those last words made her collapse in pain. She felt like her body was on fire, and could only wither in pain on the ground. She could not breathe, could not think straight, and only saw a blinding white light through her closed eyelids.

As she was losing consciousness, she tried to call out.

_Merlin_!

* * *

**This story has gotten over 110 views just in July (that is to say, in 4 days), and no one has let me a commentary, so...**

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	5. Chapter 5

Silver – Chapter 5

* * *

**A/N : Here is chapter 5! ****sorry for taking so long to update, I had no internet (I typed the story but I had no way of posting it !).**

**Anyway, thanks for reading, and don't forget to review ! Reviews = fast updates (even if I always try to update fast, I am even more motivated with reviews!)**

**_Oh, and in the next 3 chapters (at least) I'll put lots of references from books or movies or TV series. When you find them, review and point them out. If you are right, a character in the next chapters will go by your name! The game is on! XD_**

_- Previously -_

_As she was losing consciousness, she tried to call out._

_Merlin!_

* * *

Arthur was having a fantastic week, until that day.

The weather was surprisingly nice for this mid-October hunting party, and they had not seen a single bandit in two days, which was quite unusual. The preys were abundant and Merlin was not there to scare them off, so his two knights and himself were highly successful in their hunt and shared a banquet every night at camp. Perfect holiday away from the castle.

Anyway, that's what the Prince thought while he was slowly waking up from a good night, smelling a nice breakfast being prepared. Sir Peter was certainly preparing it. The other knight, Sir Edmund, had no talent whatsoever in the cooking area, and he would be astonished to discover that the knight could actually cook something that smelled nice.

Arthur ate enough to last for three days. He would have liked a sausage more, but a voice that sounded suspiciously like Merlin's had called him fat, so he had stopped himself – not that he would ever admit it to anyone, his manservant in particular- and got himself prepared for the hunt, a satisfied smile lightening his face - Merlin certainly longed for hunting with him at this point, and would not complain next time. He was a psychology genius. A highly functioning sociopath. Mwahaha.

Of course, the Crown Prince of Camelot did not suspect what awaited him that day.

* * *

The first part of their hunt was quite uneventful. They checked every trap they had put around the camp -they had only caught dirt and leaves, not a single animal-, and parted ways, each going a different direction to look for preys. A few minutes later, Arthur heard Edmund's call, and run towards the voice. _Deers! Yummyyy!_

He was too caught in his thoughts to notice the unconscious girl's body laid on the lawn, and stumbled on it, falling in a bush with spines, of course. He nearly whimpered, but of course, did not – a prince does NOT whimper.

He looked up to see the girl waking up with a start, sitting up at an unhuman speed and screaming the name of his manservant. That was when his problems started.

Eylen decided that morning that being awoken by a big mass stumbling on her was not pleasant.

The big mass – a blond knight looking quite surprised – took her by the shoulders and started to shake her. That was definitely not a pleasant way to wake up.

"What happened to Merlin?" He looked quite concerned, but she was certainly going to make him wait a little in compensation of being so rude. She was _not_ in good mood.

"Oi! Who are you? And stop shaking me like mad, I am not a milkshake." Eylen shot back. She was not going to tell a discourteous stranger that had just stumbled on her anything about her friend.

The man stopped shaking her.

"That's better, cabbage-head. I am Eylen, by the way. Now, decline your identity."

"How dare you?! This is no way of speaking to the Crown Prince of Camelot, Arthur-"

"Oh, you must be Arthur Pratdragon"

"No, it is PENdrag – Hang on!" He looked furious, and she nearly giggled – but stopped dead after thinking about Merlin.

"Look, there is not time. Merlin has been kidnapped yesterday night by the nobles we were meant to serve this week. I was looking for him when I stumbled on a rock" – she stopped and looked for a rock to give some truth to her story. She could not exactly tell him she had passed out because of her _mental_ _link_ with his _warlock_ friend- "there, you see, the pointy one- and I knocked myself out."

To her utmost relief, he did not notice she had no scratch on her head.

"Why didn't you ask Camelot's knights for help?"

"It was my second day in Camelot, and I did not know where or who to ask. I – there's no time, we need to go and rescue Merlin"

The prince looked convinced by her made-up-on-the-spot story. He took her hand and stood her up. His knights had come, alerted by her shout, and both were looking anxious at hearing Eylen. Arthur turned towards them – he had regained his princely attitude at seeing the knights, and looked as _prattish_ as you could. He straightened up, let out his breath, and announced:

"We are going after Merlin, and we shall not stop until we have found him."

* * *

Merlin woke up with a barrel of water being splashed on him. _Rude_.

His head hurt like hell from the two lumps he had acquired the night before, and he felt sick. _Double concussion._ But there was something else. His magic didn't respond to his call. The boy could still feel his power flow through his veins, pulsing right from his very being, but he could not reach it. With a shudder, the warlock remembered that that was why he had passed out in the first place, as well as Eylen's pain reflecting his own. He hoped she was alright.

A hand grabbed his neckerchief, holding him above the ground and choking him. He tried to kick his captor, but found out his legs were tightly bound. _Great. Just great._

He opened his eyes, and wished he hadn't. His vision was blurry from the concussion and the world span way too quickly. He closed his eyes again, but the irritating person holding him squeezed harder as if to command him to look.

He was starting to feel light-headed, so he did what was asked of him and opened his eyes again.

Satisfied, the bandit let go of him, and he crashed on the muddy ground, face first. _Ouch_. He tried to turn over, but his arms were tied as well (obviously.) The bandit grabbed him by the hair, holding Merlin's head in front of his own. He spat out - he had a terrible dental hygiene, by the way.

"Awake at last, eh, Emrys" he smirked at seeing Merlin's pain-glazed eyes widen with surprise – _as usual, he does not know the villains but they do know him._ "You shouldn't have tried to elude us yesterday night so we could not capture you both. In the end, you are a perfect bait. Thanks to you, we will catch your friend Eylen too, and even get a bonus. Yes, she is not coming alone. We will capture the _mighty_ Pendragon son as well." He gloated at Merlin, who had just tried to reach out mentally to warn Eylen, without success. The warlock was now clinging on consciousness. "Efficient, our magic-suppressing chains, aren't they? Oh, and here they come!"

Merlin passed out again – it was becoming rather annoying.

* * *

After a few hours of non-stop horse riding - Eylen rode with the Prince, his horse being the strongest and fastest one-, the group following trails the witch discretely made appear, as the bandits had erased the original ones – she used her mental link with Merlin to lead the knights, they came to a halt. She was increasingly frustrated and worried. They had rode for hours and there was still no sign of Merlin.

And Eylen hurt all over. She wished she had a cushioning spell to make the horses more comfortable; her whole body was sore after so many hours on a horse's back. She could hardly feel her legs._ I love horse-riding_.

They came down the horses, and Arthur made bizarre movements –that certainly meant something, but she could not fathom their meaning. Apparently the knights could; both took out their weapons and began to silently creep towards the bushes in front of them. She shrugged and did like them – except for the weapon part, as she did not have one. She reached the bushes first – she had no weapon, she was lighter and the adrenalin diminished her clumsiness – and looked through the leaves.

They had found the bandits.

* * *

Arthur watched as Eylen crept towards the bushes. That young girl, who claimed Merlin had been kidnapped, had expertly led them through the forest, shaming his tracking talents every other minute. His ego just felt _fantastic_.

Anyway, the girl had bent by the bushes and was seemingly observing the camp. She suddenly froze, having certainly spotted Merlin.

Arthur heard a twig crack behind him but didn't get enough time to warn the others. A hand pressed behind his head, and he heard someone whisper a spell. He felt a foreign consciousness trying to take over his own, - and being stubborn, he fought back. Nevertheless, the magic was stronger, and the Prince of Camelot became a passive spectator of his own body's act. It had all taken half a second. _How outrageous!_

The Prince watched as two of his best knights were taken down the same way. His unresponsive legs were taking him towards Eylen, who was still oblivious to the men's plight.

_Oh, but…! no way…_ He mentally kicked himself for being so blind – the girl had certainly led them into a trap.

But his body did not stop for her to turn over and acknowledge her success– and Arthur began to think Eylen had perhaps not betrayed his trust. He felt his hand take out his sword, and tried in vain to stop himself from advancing towards the seemingly innocent girl.

He lunged to knock her out with the hilt of his sword. Before reaching her, his last thought was: _Well, she was innocent indeed._

* * *

**A/N: mwahahaha!**

**I'll give a druid your name if you have found the book/TV series references of this chapter! So get looking and review :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N : Here is chapter 6! Enjoy reading it and review at the end!**

**Thanks to all who alerted, reviewed, followed or favorited this story! **

**_Oh, and in the chapters 4, 5 and 6 (at least) I'll put lots of references from books or movies or TV series. When you find them, review and point them out. If you are right, a character in the next chapters will go by your name! Let the tournament begin!_**

* * *

Eylen was observing the bandits when she sensed movement behind her. The girl turned over on her back to see the Prince lunging towards her, sword in hand, ready to knock her out. _Oi, you prat!_ _Sneaking up is rude!_

Eylen did not have time to avoid the hit, and she did not see another option. The witch had heard by Gaius that Merlin could do it instinctually, so she decided to try as well. She outstretched her right hand, her eyes burnt silver; and she froze time. _Success!_

She rolled on her left side and got out of Arthur's reach.

_The prince is trying to kill me, deed that he would have accomplished long ago should he wish to. Arthur is right-handed, but he is holding his sword in his left hand. His knight code would have stopped him from attacking me while I had my back turned on him. His eyes are glazed over, and he has a creepy faraway look. There is a human-shaped shadow sticking out from being the old oak tree at the left side of the clearing. I bet the bandit that is hidden behind the oak tree is possessing Arthur and his knights. Obvious. Now, how to stop the spell?_

During her only day at Gaius's, the old man had lent her many magic books. She had quickly flipped them all and thanks to her astonishing memory (and a spell Merlin had given her to improve it), she remembered every word of magic.

Alright, so _in case of possession_, detect the source and neutralize it. _Knock the sorcerer out, then._

She reached the bandit and punched him as hard as she could in the nose for good measure. _Then_ she knocked him out.

_Swefe nu!_

If her deductions were correct, when she would stop freezing time, the bandit would pass out and the Camelotians would be free.

Bandits : 0, Eylen : 1

She still needed to save Merlin.

* * *

Eylen entered the camp. The frozen bandits were gathered around a fire, and enjoying their dinner. She did not have time for finesse, and knocked them all out with her favorite spell.

Merlin was unconscious and tied to a tree at the other side of the camp. A last bandit was apparently gloating at the prone form of her friend. Eylen ran towards Merlin, knocking out the bandit by a swift movement of her wrist (swish and flick!). She nearly smirked in satisfaction, but stopped dead when she looked closer at Merlin.

The witch caught her breath. The warlock's complexion was even paler than usual, and she saw at least three nasty head injuries, that she quickly healed. After a further look, she concluded he had not been more injured, and breathed out. _No life threatening injuries._ Eylen shifted position, sitting herself in front of her friend, and tried to wake him.

_Tobregdan!_

After uttering the spell twice, she began to worry. Merlin was not rousing. _It was the good spell, wasn't it?_

With a jolt, she realized that, of course, Merlin was frozen in time; and even a warlock needed a few seconds to awake. _Woops…_

The witch breathed in. She could not let time flow again yet, as she still needed to tend to Merlin without Arthur around. If he saw her performing magic, she was a dead witch.

Eylen made her decision. She tried something new, that no one had ever tried before: including Merlin into her own time stream. And it worked.

Merlin awoke screaming, his eyes still shut.

'It's a trap! No! Eylen!'

Eylen gently tapped on his shoulder and he slowly opened his eyes, taking in the unconscious bandits. He looked at the girl with an amused look and grinned.

'Oh! You do like using 'swefe nu', don't you?'

They giggled, but quickly regained a bit of their composure. Merlin was still tied to a tree.

'Those are magic-suppressing chains.'

At seeing her dubious expression, he added:

'Well, you can't use magic with those chains on…'

'I'd worked that much out for myself, funnily enough'

He laughed, and added: 'but you won't be able to break them eith-'

He stopped rambling and observed the witch's antics. Eylen had put both her hands on the chains and her eyes were shining bright silver. The chains started to blaze as well, and the chain's links extended enough for Merlin to get them off.

Eylen looked quite pleased with herself, so he did not say 'wicked' as he had intended to.

The witch gave Merlin her hand and pulled him up into a relieved embrace. After a few instants, he reluctantly let go of her and her reassuring presence, and asked:

'Where's Arthur? The bandits told me he was coming with you.'

'Ah, yes. Last I saw of him, he tried to knock me out.'

'Really?'

'He was possessed.'

'Ah'

'But I broke the nose of the spell's source.'

'Oh.'

'Anyway! I am going to let time flow again. Let's hope Arthur and his two knights are not possessed anymore.'

She released time with a flash of her eyes, and she was assaulted by a wave of dizziness; her knees gave out. _Next time I won't hold time that long. I feel like sleeping for an entire week._

She did not have time for a nap though.

Arthur entered the clearing, ran towards them and put his sword at Eylen's throat at light speed. He was fuming.

'You filthy sorceress! I saw your eyes turn silver!'

'Arthur! No! She's innocent!' Merlin tried to push him away, but he was not quick enough.

Arthur knocked Eylen out before she could understand what was going on.

Of course, the prat had not planned that the bandits would wake should he knock Eylen out.

* * *

Merlin had still not recovered use of his magic (stupid chains!), and even with the two Camelot knights with them, they were outnumbered one to five -at least. Merlin hadn't got any weapon, and he seriously missed his magic.

Eylen was still out cold and in the middle of the battlefield (stupid Arthur!). He tried to reach her and pull her away from the fight. Obviously, his plan did not include two bandits going after him. He tried to fend them off with a stick, but of course his only weapon was sliced like a carrot by the bandits' swords (stupid villains!). He was frantically looking for another stick when a fourth bandit sneaked up by behind him and knocked him out (rude!).

Arthur was fighting four bandits at once when he understood - at last - that the fight was a distraction. Three bandits were taking away his unconscious manservant and the sorceress (who, even if she perhaps did not work with the bandits, was utterly _evil_). The Prince turned around to check on his best knights. Sir Edmund and Sir Peter were still sparing, and faring quite well. He gestured to them his plan, and after a last nod, Arthur went after the kidnappers.

The bandits had a good advance, but had to carry two dead weights with them (even if the two dead weights were small and skinny). Arthur finally reached the captors in a clearing.

Merlin and Eylen were being held at sword point, their bodies hanging limply in the arms of their kidnappers.

'If you take one more step, we'll slit their throats. If I were you, I'd drop your sword and put my hands on your head'

Arthur stopped and did as he was asked. There was no way he could free Merlin. He risked a look at him.

His manservant was scarily pale, and his hair was sticking out with dry blood. A lump was forming behind his ear, and his eyes were underlined by weary black marks, and Arthur promised himself he would give Merlin a day off. _Well, half a day._

The prince took a look at the sorceress as well. She also had a lump, caused by his hit. Arthur should have been glad to have taken down the sorceress, but he did not feel completely good about it. After all, she had not done anything against them. He looked again. Eylen was awaking – her fingers were twitching and her eyelids slowly opening.

The three bandits were flown off their captives, and Merlin and the sorceress fell on the ground with a loud _thump_.

Eylen looked up at Arthur, challenge in her eyes.

He yelled.

'You're a sorceress!'

'No, I am a witch, thank you very much. And yes, there is a difference. I was born with magic. I did not choose it.'

Arthur raised an eyebrow, Gaius-style, and reached for his sword.

Eylen looked completely unfazed.

'But I guess that makes no difference to you. As long as I am able to use magic, I am a super-evil villain that only craves for more power.'

She stood up.

'Arthur, magic is like a sword.' She stopped and seemed to consider her idea. 'No, it is even more than that. With a sword, you can only hurt and kill. With magic, you can heal and help people. The sword you hold in your hands is far more evil than the magic I hold in me.'

Arthur looked confused. She sighed.

'Guess what, clotpole! I didn't even know magic and Camelot existed until two days ago, and I certainly didn't become evil in two days' time.'

He blinked, surprised, but did not take off his aggressive stance.

The witch jerked her hands above her head, her mind reeling for some arguments. She recalled the books she had read at Gaius's (silently thanking the physician for lending them to her).

'Alright. I'll tell you, Arthur Pratdragon. You are wrong to think magic is evil. If it were, then everything that you can see, feel or touch would be evil. You'd be evil too! Magic is the Earth's power force; it flows around and through us, maintaining life to the world.' Eylen's eyes suddenly blazed bright silver. The witch suddenly saw all of time; she understood all that was, that is and that will be.

'Without it, we would all be held captives by now. Without it, Arthur Pendragon, you would never have been born. Without it, Camelot would not even be standing today. Magic is all that is good in the world. It is magic that makes flowers blossom, streams run through the forests, seasons alternate, day go after night.' Silver patterns danced around the witch, dramatically stressing her words. 'Your hatred of magic has altered the world's continuity and could cause its destruction. I am Eylen, chosen by magic itself to help you see the truth and restore magic to this land. Run me through if you do think I am evil.'

* * *

**A/N: Cliffie! ****:) :) :)**

**You! Yes, you, who just read this 6****th**** chapter! I know you are there.**

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**All you have to do is to hit it with your cursor, get your keyboard, and enter some wordswith it. When you are done, you just have to hit 'review', and you'll make my day!**

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	7. Chapter 7

**A/N : Here is chapter 7 :)**** Two chapters in two days! ****I hope you enjoy reading this story, and don't forget to review so I know! The references contest is still on. If you find a reference, review and a character in the next chapters will go by your name!**

* * *

A staring contest was engaged. The witch, eyes glowing silver, against the prince, eyes wide with surprise (no, not fear!).

The air hummed with sheer power, and Arthur _felt_ that the young girl in front of him held more power in her little toe that he did in his entire body. And he knew that that same incredibly powerful girl, who could bring kingdoms to their knees without blinking, did not wish to hurt him (well, he hoped so).

Eylen was the living contrary of evil, even if she certainly did know how to be creepy.

Arthur blinked, losing the contest – he was sure he saw the victorious girl grin (pfff) - did the only sane thing he could do in front of one of the most powerful magic users ever: putting his sword back in its sheath, and looking up with acceptance.

* * *

'That was quite the speech!'

The prince turned towards the source of the fatigued voice, who happened to be his lazy manservant.

'Merlin, you've decided to join us? How nice of you!' Merlin did not miss Arthur's true question.

'Yes, I am alright, Arthur.' He gave the prince his trade-mark reassuring grin, rubbed his sore head, and made to stand up.

A twig cracked behind the three friends, who turned with a start towards the sound.

'Well, well, tis all very moving!'

The bandits stepped out of the bushes, holding the revolted Camelot knights at sword point.

'Surr'nder or we'll kill 'em!' The prince sighed. As usual, the bandits haven't learnt to articulate!

Eylen boldly took a step forward, both hands outstretched and ready to blast them off. She did not get the time, though.

A sorcerer -why _sorcerer_? just look at the ridiculous black robes!- made his way through the amassed bandits and the captive knights. The bandits were staring with awe, murmuring 'Dekciw' – the name of the feared sorcerer. The latter dramatically brandished a runic-engraved white stone. Nothing happened and Arthur nearly burst out laughing. It was rather anti-climatic. The sorcerer whispered something and his eyes turned dark yellow.

Eylen's eyes rolled in their sockets and she collapsed, thrashing around and whimpering. Her hands were lit with the brightest silver, but she did not seem able to stop the stone's effects. The sorcerer uttered another spell, and Eylen was violently turned on her back. Her eyes were unseeing and her mouth open in a silent cry. The witch twitched again, her back abnormally arched. After a last pained tremor, she passed out. A silver mist came out of her mouth, spiraling in frozen fractals all around the clearing.

The forest was eerily silent. It seemed the rivers had stopped flowing, the rabbits hid in their burrows, the birds stopped chirping. It seemed the world had stopped spinning at the dreadful act.

The silvery mist regrouped in one brilliant flow, the visible form of the girl's powers. The stone glowed brighter and brighter as it sucked them up. The young girl was deadly still, laid on her back, her eyes closed and her terribly pale visage calm, a contrast to the unnatural act. Her parted lips were blue.

Merlin was frozen. He wanted to stop the sorcerer from tearing out the magic from Eylen; but he was stunned, stuck in time, unable to let out a single tear.

He cared so much for her he felt as though he would bleed to death with the pain of it.

As Eylen's last spark of magic was absorbed by the stone, time seemed to start again, slowly, as if nature's itself was reluctant to flow. Merlin dropped on his knees. He had lost his mental connection with the young girl. The warlock felt like a part of his soul was missing. His mouth tasted sour; he was crying. The air temperature had dropped by ten degrees, and it seemed all hope was lost to the world.

* * *

Taliesin and a dozen other druids were running through the forest, following the slight hum indicating the presence of the two most powerful beings ever. His brows were furrowed in concern. Their camp seer had got a vision earlier that day, and they had left at once for the Valley of the Fallen Kings. The Seer had only Seen that the prophesized times were being threatened – no more details. Really helpful then. And obviously, the Seer had talked in riddles.

Taliesin was wondering what awaited him there when he felt it. He stumbled, shocked, and tried to calm his erratic breathing by leaning heavily on a big oak tree._ No…_

The druids kept running through the now silent forest.

* * *

_The first part of the ritual was complete, at last! They had feared _her_ work on the girl wouldn't be complete, that it was too soon. But it had worked! The powers were in the stone! Wicked._

The bandits were openly staring at the sorcerer. Even the toughest of them were trembling, eyes wide and breathing shallow.

Dekicw smirked. _One down, one left._

* * *

Merlin ran at Eylen's side at the moment the sorcerer took his eyes off her. She didn't seem to be breathing. He frantically felt for a pulse through her long mud-stained sleeves and his heart nearly stopped. No, she can't be…

He pulled the sleeve up, and touched her wrist again. The wind picked up and howled in his ears words of magic. He felt his powers returning –but there was no use now. She was _dead_. He let out a last single tear. A golden dome appeared around them and a magical wave ran through her forever still body. Eylen breathed in.

Taking advantage of the bandits' surprise, the knights got away from them and regrouped with their Prince. Arthur took out his sword, the bandits looked at each other and after a moment of hesiation grabbed their weapons, the sorcerer growled and the _druids_ charged. _Erm- where did they come from? Anyway…_

Merlin stood up, and ignoring the surprised Prince's glare -well, Arthur was going to find out about his magic sooner or later-, turned to duel the sorcerer.

Taliesin and his druids shouted 'For Albion' and ran out of the bushes. The druid chieftain's eyes did not leave the warlock.

_Astrice !_

Emrys stopped the spell with a flash of his eyes, flicked his wrist, and sent it back to the sorcerer. Dekciw, surprised, shouted 'Gescildan' and blocked his own spell just before impact. The warlock had sent in the meantime a speech-less spell that the sorcerer was not expecting, and the latter was blown off his feet, hitting his head on a rock with a satisfying crack. He recovered quickly, and in desperation –for he knew he was up against the most powerful warlock ever _ever_ - barked out a dark-magic curse, that Taliesin knew no-one had ever managed to stop. But this was Emrys. Their lord calmly raised his right hand, and the jinx vanished, banging against a thin blue shield. The warlock's eyes were glowing the brightest gold, and in the second he had sent back a stunning spell of his own. The sorcerer collapsed. Taliesin was staring, at awe – and nearly was cut in half by a bandit he had not seen. He shook himself and resumed his fighting.

Emrys turned over to help with their fight against the bandits. The knights were fighting along with the druids, magic and sword uniting for the same cause. Taliesin was shielding the Prince of Camelot, watching the warlock's back and fighting off three opponents at the same time. Emrys took downtwo bandits that were creeping behind Sir Edmund. The knight who looked up and nodded. I_t seemed the time of Albion was nearing._ Taliesin ducked to avoid a sword, and pushed the holder into a tree.

There were only five bandits left – needless to say that the fight was quickly over.

Behind Emrys, the sorcerer was regaining movement after the stunning spell. He was summoning a column of fire. The warlock was healing Sir Peter's leg from a deep sword cut, and helping him back on his feet again, unaware of the danger.

Taliesin mentally reached him.

_'__Emrys, behind y-'_

The warlock was already pushing the column away. He had speech-lessly summoned the most powerful winds without even breaking a sweat– Taliesin gaped, he had never succeeded doing that particular spell- ,and was now flying the flabbergasted sorcerer against a tree. Dekciw was knocked out on the spot.

The clearing was silent, stunned by the incredible power display. Arthur looked around to analyze the druids' expressions and understand how special what he had just witnessed was. All were dumbstruck- this was clearly unprecedented.

Taliesin was proudly smiling._ This gangly boy really is the one we have been waiting for_.

Arthur looked at his _magical_ manservant again -he still did not quite believe the idiot had managed to hide this power from the prince-.

Merlin was running towards the defeated sorcerer's body to take back the white stone that had sucked out the weird silver mist from Eylen. It was too late; Dekciw had already transported himself away.

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**A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Keep tuning on!**

**A/N #2: as always, reviews are most welcome! - I'd like to know what you think of Eylen :)**

**A/N #3 : don't forget the references contest!**

**A/N #4 : Have a nice day :)**

**A/N #5 : Check out Conspiracies, my Sherlock/merlin crossover :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here is chapter 8! Enjoy reading it and please review at the end!**

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She was running. The branches were tearing up her long dress – not that she cared much for it anyway, but still!-, and the snow was inviting itself in her boots. Her feet were freezing. She looked behind her – and of course, did not see the root poking out of the earth. The girl stumbled and face-planted. Ouch. It did not stop her though. She rolled on the ground –ninja!- and stood up again. But it had caught up with her.

She frantically looked around for some branch to keep the beast away from her. The Heoruwearg – to be short, an overgrown wolf - was encircling her, slowly narrowing its circle around her. She shivered – it was playing with its prey.

Eylen had been bored out of her mind that morning, and after re-reading all the books of the library, she had gone outside to build a snowman. When she had finished sculpting the snow, satisfied with her work, the girl had decided the snowman needed wooden arms -worse idea ever-. She had gone in the forest to find two arm-looking branches - but none suited her work. She promised herself not to be so perfectionist the next time she built a snowman - if there was a next time. Anyway. She had gone further that she intended at first, and a twig had snapped behind her. She had turned around to see two red eyes and a disgustingly drooling mouth. And big, _big_ jaws. The monster had growled and started to lunge towards her. She had run, mentally thanking the deers for having trained her to run so quickly. But the monster was a fast runner as well, and she had been caught.

The beast was playing with her; appreciating the white vapour clouds that she frantically exhaled. She unconspicuously tried to reach the forest again, hoping to be able to climb on a tree and get out of the jaws' reach. Obviously, the monster noticed; it angrily jumped on her. She screamed and put both her hands in front of her, naively hoping they would shield her from the sharp teeth. A power wave ran along her arms and exploded out of her hands, and the monster was blasted away her. She did not question the eerie event, and thanked every deity she could think of.

Eylen turned around and ran. She had not even reached the trees when a hand grabbed her arm, boring its long nails in her skin. She yelled again in frustration and looked at her aggressor. Her mother was looking down at the ten-year-old girl, scarily infuriated.

'What did you do?' Her voice was soft, but her eyes betrayed a cool fury. Eylen shuddered.

'I don't know, I swear I don't! I was attacked by that monster, and it was flown off me before it could so much as touch me!'

She tried to free her arm again, but her mother squeezed it harder.

'What are you doing this far from the castle?You are not supposed to be able to use your magic! I need to find a more powerful spell because of you!' Eylen was confused – magic did not exist, did it? And why would her _mom_ want to stop her using it?

She did not get to ask though. Her mother conjured a weird white stone and held it in front of the young girl's green eyes. '_Dilege gemynd!'_

Her eyes shone gold and the young girl only had the time to understand the Old English words – _Erase memories _–before the world went black.

The view changed.

She was now in the castle's library. It was a hot summer day, and she was trying to find a fresh spot to read, and escape the radiating heat. She looked at the shelves, sighing. She wished she had new books.

She finally picked up an Old Religion book, intending to train her accent at the weird language –she had always fun doing it.

Eylen went down the stairs, humming to herself, and reached the first floor.

She sat on a wooden bench in a corridor, hoping to feel the slight breeze that usually ran through the narrow passage. The girl opened the old book and crossed her legs to hold it in a good angle. Satisfied, she began reading aloud. She was halfway through the page, half-reading it half-declaiming it by heart -sigh-, when she let her mind wander. It had not rained for weeks; the forest was dying. The animals were frantically looking for water, but there was none. She gave them some from her well, but her reserves were not eternal either. She sighed, and wished rain would show up at last.

The wind picked up and rain began pouring inside the castle. She yelped in surprise, closed the book and stood up. The corridor was already getting flooded, and the girl had water at waist-height. She held the book close above her to shelter it from most of the water, and tried to swim towards the library. She did not reach the ground anymore, and her soaked dress was pulling her down, slowly drowning her. She took her breath, teared up the dress – she really had problems with those stupid clothes – and after a few moments of struggling, finally reached the library's stairs. She pulled herself out of the water and frantically climbed the three flights of stairs to the library, hoping to escape the flooding. She opened the door and burst into the library, panting.

Eylen was now trying to dry the poor book – there was no use, it was ruined - when she heard footsteps coming towards her. She looked up and saw her mother. She was standing majestically in the centre of the library, her blindingly red dress swirling around her and her clear eyes reflecting the rain. She looked infuriated - Eylen winced and innocently waved at her mother. The latter's eyes turned gold and the storm ravaging the castle stopped as quickly as it had started.

Eylen gaped and stared at her. The sorceress took out a white stone and held it towards her daughter. The young girl suddenly felt light-headed. She gasped and tried to stay standing, leaning on the library's door, but it flew open under the pression. Eylen lost her balance and collapsed. She closed her eyes, wanting the world to stop spinning, and heard her mother coming over to her. The woman was still holding the stone; Eylen passed out before she could see her mother wipe out the day from her mind.

Eylen woke up with a start, wondering how many parts of her memory had been stolen by her mother._ More than I can recall, anyway._

She shook herself and opened her eyes. She was…in a tent._ Erm…right. What am I doing here?_

She remembered the day before, until the bandits' threat to kill the knights. After that, well, nothing. Blank hole in her mind. _Bizarre_.

The girl looked around again. She was laying on a wooden bed; there was a chair by her side, and a water jug on the table at the other side of the tent. There was nobody to be seen. She lazily rubbed her eyes and stood up to collapse on her bed again. She felt drained, as if she had run a marathon twice _and then_ mucked out the stables of Camelot -yuk at the simple thought of it, by the way.

Someone hesitantly pushed aside one of the curtains that formed the entrance of the tent. It was a three-year-old girl, with ears sticking out even more than Merlin's –yes, it _was_ possible- and a curious glint in her eyes. Eylen smiled at her, and the child let out a grin and waved before letting the curtain fall again and running away.

Eylen giggled at the girl's antics. She shifted and weakly stood up to walk towards the tent's entrance.

The druids had teleported Arthur, the knights, the unconscious Eylen and Merlin - who really needed to learn how to transport by the way. It was becoming awkward to be the most powerful warlock ever and _not _to know how to teleport by himself. Anyway- to their camp, and they had all be warmly welcomed. Too warmly for Merlin's confort. The warlock had not stopped blushing during the whole dinner, and he had retreated into his tent as early as politeness permitted him. The druids had nearly bowed at seeing him and kept calling him 'my lord'. Arthur had been mad at him for being an 'evil sorcerer' until he had seen Merlin's embarrassment during the feast. The prat was never _ever_ going to let Merlin live it down.

After a good night of rest in the guests' tent -it would have been Meriln's best if Eylen had not been injured-, the warlock had gone outside to play with the children. In fact, they had begged him to play with them the night before, but Merlin had wanted to go straight to bed and avoid the awed stares of the elder druids. Naturally he had had to promise the children he would play the next morning. Eylen had not awoken yet, but the best healers had assured it was normal, and that she would regain consciousness soon. Merlin worried anyway, and had tried to get some distraction with the children.

He had already played hide and seek, told stories and made tickle contests, and was now conjuring golden animal shapes and making them run around the marvelled little druids. He laughed. He had missed using this type of magic – he could only use that tricks in Ealdor, deep in the forest.

In Camelot, he would have been dead by the second – but now that Arthur had accepted magic, the future was brighter than ever.

He was creating a dragon, causing several enthusiastic cheers from the druids, when a little girl arrived running and shouted 'she's awake!'.

Eylen nearly banged into a worried-looking Merlin. The warlock looked at her from head to toe with concern. She raised her eyebrow (she had renunced trying not to imitate Gaius) and he grinned. He pulled her out of the tent with mischief in his eyes...

An assembly of druids were staring at them, and she felt herself blush like mad -why, Merlin. Why?-. The druids looked at her like she had just saved the world. That was awkward. She was about to creep back in the tent again to escape the gazes when an elder druid advanced towards them. The elder gestured for them to follow him. The druids parted to let them pass, still at awe, and she weakly smiled. The elder druid led them to the biggest tent of the camp, and they went in, much to Eylen's relief.

She tried to stop her blushing and glared at Merlin, who winced and said 'sorry', but did not look at all like he meant it.

The druid curtly introduced himself as Taliesin, the leader of the camp. He was staring at her with his green X-ray gaze. He looked anxious. She frowned.

'Can you use your magic, Eylen?'

She raised her eyebrows. Well, of course she cou- doubt filled her mind, and she mentally tried to reach her powers. Where there was usually an ocean of magic, she only felt a big nearly-empty gap. She trembled. Everything came back to her at once. The sorcerer, who had held out the same stone as her mother. Her struggling against its effects. The pain. The mist. She gasped for air, and in desperation, grabbed the spark of silver Merlin had saved. She tried to conjure a flame. Once, twice. She couldn't.

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**A/N : Reviews are most needed! I'd like to know what do you think of Eylen? :)**


	9. Chapter 9

***unconspicuously gets on stage in front of an angry mob of readers***

**Hi there!**

**Miss me?**

***ducks to avoid rotten tomato***

**I know I am a mean writer that hasn't updated in ages (as in less than one month). I am really sorry for the long wait, and I promise I'll do everything so that it doesn't happen again.**

***gets suspicious stares***

**I mean it! Cross my two hearts of fellow whovian and writer!**

***some readers cheer at the back***

**Thank you all for waiting, and I promise your patience will pay!**

**As always, read, enjoy, and REVIEW!**

**Oh, and I've started a crossover between the epic Merlin and the wonderful Sherlock! It is named Conspiracies and will be at least 15,000 words long! And I've already written most of it, so it'll be updated quickly if I get reviews!**

**(by the way did you see Benedict Cumberbatch's ice bucket challenge? - his face when he gets splashed! -hilarious. And he did it five times in one video!**

**I dedicate this chapter to my awesome American pen-pal Sara who sent me wonderful birthday presents from across the Atlantic! Thank you so much :D**

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'I – I died, didn't I?' Eylen took a shuddering breath, trying not to break down at the thought. 'The loss of my powers killed me.' Merlin was shivering. He was living the scene again, the pain at seeing Eylen dead.

'You haven't fully lost your powers. Emrys saved the last spark of them before the end of the ritual' Said Taliesin.

'But my magic is so weak!' her voice was trembling. 'I can't even create a flame!'

'If Emrys had not given you back that spark of power, you would not have come back from death.' What a comforting declaration.

Silence ensued. Eylen nodded at Merlin with gratitude. The warlock's eyes were glistening with unshed tears at recalling those events. Eylen found her voice again.

'Why do you call him Emrys?'

Taliesin looked thankful for the change of topic. His grey eyes sparkled with enthusiast and hope.

'That's how Merlin is called in the prophecies. Emrys and Eylen, chosen by magic itself, born to restore magic to this lan. Our Seers predicted your existence centuries ago. You are the 'forþgesceaft'. It means –'

'magical being born to accomplish a destiny. That's what I heard the day we met, Merlin!'

The warlock was flabbergasted. 'I heard it too. How do you know what it means?'

She grinned at seeing him surprised. 'Books.'

She looked at Taliesin again.

'Why does Merlin have two names?'

'Her mother gave him one when he was born as she did not know of the prophecies, but he was already known under another name by the druids.'

'That means my mother knew the prophecies, and directly gave me my druidic name, doesn't it?'

Taliesin looked at her. It seemed to Eylen the druid leader crunched his eyebrows with concern for a second, but he shook his head and the expression left his features.

'We felt the exact moment of your birth – we knew the time of the Ones had come. After years of researches, we found Merlin and kept tabs on him until he went to Camelot. But we never found you.' Taliesin stopped. 'We did find your parents though.'

'Oh, you know my mother, then. Why didn't she tell me about you, or the druids in general?'

'Eylen, when we found your parents seventeen years ago, both were dead.'

The girl frowned, with a glint of uncertainty in her eyes.

'But-it can't be! I saw my mother until that week. The day I transported to Camelot was visitation day, but she had not shown up. I hadn't thought about it until now.'

'Your father was a magic-gifted noble from Camelot, close to the King'

Taliesin looked about to add something, but shook his head and continued.

'and your mother the High Priestess of the Old Religion. There is only one High Priestess by generation, and your mother was the most skilled in centuries. They escaped Camelot at the beginning of the Great Purge and went to live in a druid camp in Essetir. A month before you were born, they were told druid renegades led by Nimueh were after them. They went into hiding to protect you. You see, Nimueh was a Priestess of the Old Religion, the next in line for the powers of High Priestess. Our Seers predicted their fate, but we were too late. When we found your parents' bodies, there was no trace of you.'

Eylen felt like her entire life was being ripped apart in front of her eyes. Her mother was certainly one of the renegades. She had been brought up by a murderer, locked away in a desert kingdom. She inhaled sharply, trying to rein in her emotions.

'I lived in Daobeth until four days ago. I had no idea magic existed until then, and I don't know why I retrieved it. But before I woke up, I had flashbacks.'

Taliesin raised an eyebrow, and invited her to keep talking.

'I dreamt of a day I was attacked by a Heoruwearg in the forest around the castle. I escaped using magic, but my 'mother' – she nearly spat the word, her eyes brightening with fiery rage- found me and used the same white stone as yesterday to erase my memories and suppress my newly-recovered powers. In my second flashback, I nearly flooded the castle by accident, but my mother came, stopped the storm and zapped away my powers again. That's why I could never leave before. The stone was suppressing my powers, and I think each time I went too close to the border my 'mother' knew it. She always came to erase my memories and bring me back to the castle again. I had no idea parts of my memories were missing until this morning.'

Taliesin was deadly pale.

'You mean the one who pretended to be your mother used that stone on you for your whole life.'

Eylen hesitantly nodded.

'Oh…that's bad.'

Taliesin would not tell them more, pretexting he preferred asking the opinion of other druids' elder before giving them informations. He crept out of the tent without looking at Eylen in the eye.

After a few awkward seconds, Merlin proposed Eylen to go to Arthur's tent. The Prince had not left his tent for the whole morning – without Merlin to wake him up, the sleepy head had surely overslept.

Arthur's tent was at the edge of the camp, opposite to the main place where the druids gathered every day. There was no one in his part of the settlement.

They reached Arthur's tent and pulled the entrance curtain open to see the Prince unconscious and bound. Eylen shouted in surprise, but there was no druid close enough to hear her and come to help.

Two bandits grabbed them and put cloths on their mouth. They were trying to drug them and knock them out. Merlin frantically tried to reach his powers, but he passed out before he could use them.

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Arthur woke up with a moan. His head felt like it was split open. And his arms were on fire – they were bound to a tree branch above his head, holding him into an uncomfortable sitting position.

Merlin and Eylen were too bound to the tree. They were still unconscious.

They were in a bandit camp, but unlike the precedent one, there were more than a dozen enemies –sigh-. He looked around, trying to find out exactly how many there were. He was at the back of the camp, so he could not see all the bandits, but he estimated by the noise they made that there were at least fifty of them –double sigh-. And it seemed they were all sorcerers – even he could feel the place pulsating with power –triple sigh-. And both the new girl, Eylen, and his powerful friend – as that was who Merlin was to him, not his manservant, but his best friend - were bound with those annoying magic-suppressing chains –he sighed _again_. How were they getting out of this?

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**I'll post the next chapter tomorrow if I get two reviews. If I don't get any I'll take longer to write :D mwahahahah**


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